Following Jesus in Great Southern

Q+A 4: Adam and Eve’s Clothes

Q: When God killed animals to cover Adam and Eve, what happened to the meat of the animals?

I must admit that I have never thought about this before.

The answer is ultimately no answer. We don’t know.

The relevant Bible passage, Genesis 3:23, merely says that God made clothes for Adam and Eve from skins.

There is no mention of what type of animals the skins came from, or what happened to the meat afterwards.

I’ve heard some people suggest that the animals were probably sheep or lambs, prefiguring Jesus as the lamb of God who would later be sacrificed for the sins of the world, and other who suggest that this might indicate permission for people to eat meat. These and other suggestions are purely speculative, and while they might sound nice and neat, I don’t think we should really offer an opinion on the matter because:

The Bible doesn’t say,

It doesn’t actually make any difference to our faith in theory or in practice

No doctrines depend (or even touch on) it, and

Speculation with no biblical evidence can only lead to arguments that don’t achieve anything even if you win or your guess sounds theologically good.